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Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

We have a couple of goals for our Gazetteer:

  • That it be a tool which helps us with planning our trips.
  • We're trying to shape our Gazetteer as a tool to help us understand the community in which our ancestors lived, the community that was part of their daily lives.
  • On our trips, we try to visit those places where our ancestors left their footprints.

By learning about Copake Lake (and the surrounding area) during the time that our ancestors lived, we hope to have a better understanding of both their community and its relationship to their lifes. We hope that this tool helps to give us an insight into their world.

As we add data and organize our Gazetteer to help with our family research, we will be adding to this our Genealogical Helper for Copake Lake. While we don't have information that is specific to any given person or family, we intend to expand our understanding about where and how people lived.

Name Variations for Copake Lake ...

When searching records, keep in mind that names and their spelling can change over time. Our sources include documents like maps, railroad schedules, Travel, Express and Shipping Guides. Many of these documents date from the 1800's and it's common to find spelling differences.

Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might have occurred.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Copake Lake: Copake Lk.

If you have information about these names (such as the reason for the change, date of change, the origin of the name), please Contact Us.

Neighboring Counties ...

When searching for family records, we have frequently made the mistake of not checking the neighboring counties.

For example, we have great-grandparents who lived in the northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors were in the next county to the east. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the north.

So when searching for records, we had our best success by looking in neighboring counties instead of the county in which they lived:  their home county contained property and probate records; the county to the east contained birth and death records; the county to the north contained their burial records. If we hadn't included the neighboring counties, we would have missed many valuable sources of information.

If you're in a similar situation, we hope that the following information helps.

Copake Lake is located in Columbia County.

To see how the shape of New York's counties have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Columbia County: Litchfield (CT), Berkshire (MA), Albany, Dutchess, Greene, Rensselaer & Ulster.

Below are the counties that are near Copake Lake. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Copake Lake:

For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Copake Lake, see our County-by-County Page for Copake Lake.

Cemeteries Near Copake Lake ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Copake Lake.

This is a new section and is likely to have errors. If you find an error, such as a missing cemetery or we have the wrong name, please let us know. If you know of them, we would also appreciate learning about previous or alternate names.

If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Copake Lake covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Copake Lake, with the one closest to Copake Lake listed first.

  • Niver Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Niver Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Niver Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • West Copake Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the West Copake Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the West Copake Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Copake Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Copake Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Copake Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Old St. Bridget's Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Old St. Bridget's Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Old St. Bridget's Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Williams Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Williams Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Williams Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Hillsdale Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hillsdale Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hillsdale Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Ancram Union Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ancram Union Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ancram Union Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Collins Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Collins Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Collins Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Ancram Old Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ancram Old Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ancram Old Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Crum Church Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Crum Church Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Crum Church Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Sacred Heart Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sacred Heart Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sacred Heart Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Union Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Union Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Union Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (271 more) ...
    • Riverside Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Riverside Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Riverside Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Harlemville Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Harlemville Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Harlemville Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Churchill Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Churchill Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Churchill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to the Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System: MACRIS ID #SHE.809 <4>

Nearby Communities in 1895 ...

We've built the following list with information that came from an Atlas published by Rand McNally in 1895. The Atlas had details such as the population of the community (which appears to have come from the 1890 Census) and whether there was a post office and/or railroad service available. We also indicate if the community no longer exists and is now historic.<5>

While we didn't find Copake Lake in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Copake Lake.

These communities are listed based on their distance from Copake Lake, with the one closest to Copake Lake listed first.

  • West Copake
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Copake have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Copake
    • West Copake is located in Columbia County
  • Copake
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Copake have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Copake
    • Copake is located in Columbia County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Copake <1>
  • Craryville
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • Taghkanic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Weed Mines
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Martindale
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Suydam ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Suydam. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Suydam
    • Suydam is located in Columbia County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Suydam
    • From Copake Lake to Suydam
  • Ancram
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Boston Corner
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Boston Corner have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boston Corner
    • Boston Corner is located in Columbia County
  • Mount Washington
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mount Washington have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Washington
    • Mount Washington is located in Berkshire County (MA)
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 156 people
  • North Hillsdale
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for North Hillsdale have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Hillsdale
    • North Hillsdale is located in Columbia County
  • Hollowville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...

We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Copake Lake. See our List of 1890's Communities around Copake Lake.

Newspapers Published in Copake Lake ...

An ongoing effort between the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has resulted in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).

To share their results, the partnership has created the Chronicling America website. The goal of this partnership is to assemble a database about the current and historic newspapers of the United States. This includes a growing collection of scanned images from selected papers. All of it available to the public on their website.

Using information that we've taken from the Chronicling America website, we've identified 60 newspapers that have been published in the area around Copake Lake.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Copake Lake, there are papers which were published within 16 miles [25.7 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Copake Lake.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These professional and volunteer websites offer the information directly or else point to where you can find it. Their information is open to everyone.

To help you get started, the following links will take you to the pages that are relevant to Copake Lake:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Copake Lake. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Columbia County: www.columbiacountyny.com/

The official website for State of New York: https://www.ny.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<3>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<4>The Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) has created and maintains a database of historic properties that is called MACRIS (for the Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System). More information about the MHC and MACRIS can be found on their website: mhc-macris.net.

When visiting the MACRIS website, you might encounter their page requiring the 'Acceptance of Terms'. With your acceptance, you'll be transfered to the desired page.

<5>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Copake Lake, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Copake Lake) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Copake Lake. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.1394, Longitude: -73.5828    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025